North Liverpool Academy

About North Liverpool Academy

North Liverpool Academy is a large mixed secondary and sixth form in the Liverpool local authority, serving 1,286 pupils aged 11 to 18. It sits 7th out of 30 schools of its type in the borough, placing it in the top quarter of Liverpool’s secondary schools by Progress 8 score. The three highest-performing peers in the LA are The Blue Coat School, Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School, and Archbishop Blanch CofE High School — the latter being the nearest Outstanding-rated school, 3.3 km away. The academy is non-religious and led by headteacher Emily Vernon. It has been rated Good by Ofsted since its 2017 graded inspection, with a subsequent ungraded visit in 2022 confirming it remains Good. That marks a clear improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2015. The school is oversubscribed: for 220 places in 2025/26 it received 784 total applications, with 396 first-preference applications and 199 first-preference offers, giving an oversubscription ratio of 3.56.

Academically, the school’s Progress 8 score is -0.02, which is broadly in line with the national average and well above the Liverpool LA average of -0.4. Its Attainment 8 score is 44.1, and 55% of pupils achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths (the basics 9-4 measure). The EBacc entry rate is 19.7%, with 8.3% achieving the EBacc at grade 5 or above. In the sixth form, 55 students took A-levels, achieving an average points per entry of 36.19 (equivalent to a B- grade), and the best three A-levels averaged 38.08 points (also B-). The sixth form value added score is 0.16, with a progress banding of Average. The school’s national Progress 8 rank is 1,579 out of 3,141, placing it in the 50th percentile — right around the middle of all schools nationally. In the North West region it ranks 167th out of 445.

The school offers a wide range of facilities including a Sixth Form Centre, library, astro turf, music rooms, art studios, ICT suite, and a chapel. Sports provision is extensive, with swimming, hockey, cricket, rugby, football, athletics, badminton, rowing, and tennis. Clubs include DofE, Science Club, Drama, Choir, Newspaper, Young Enterprise, and Model UN. The school has a comprehensive SEND offer, covering Specific Learning Difficulty (Dyslexia), Moderate Learning Difficulty, Social Emotional & Mental Health, Speech Language & Communication, Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment, Physical Disability, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and Other Difficulty/Disability. With 49.1% of pupils eligible for free school meals, the academy serves a significantly disadvantaged intake. It is a good fit for families in Liverpool seeking a large, inclusive secondary with a strong sixth form, a broad extracurricular programme, and a track record of improvement — particularly those who value a non-religious setting and a school that is popular enough to be heavily oversubscribed.

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